WILKES-BARRE -- A woman from Kingston who admitted leaving the scene after hitting a man in a wheelchair was sentenced today. There were some emotional moments in the courtroom from both the families of the accused and the victim, who ended up dying from his injuries.
Entering the Luzerne County Courthouse, all you could hear was the sound of Danielle Castrignano's footsteps.
"Is there anything you'd like to say to the family of Corey Ryan?" Newswatch 16 asked Danielle Castrignano.
"In the large part, she's proud that this day finally came and she could finally face the family and tell the family from her heart that she was sorry and remorseful," said Castrignano's attorney Peter Moses.
Danielle Castrignano will spend one to two years in state prison for a hit-and-run that happened in Wilkes-Barre last June. Corey Ryan was crossing South River Street in his wheelchair. He was hit and later died. Ryan was in a wheelchair after a car crash two years earlier left him paralyzed.
Castrignano surrendered to police the next day and pleaded guilty last month. She told police thought she hit a shopping cart.
In court for sentencing, she told Ryan's family "I have put myself in your shoes every single time that I have had the opportunity, and I would hate me...I am truly, truly remorseful."
Castrignano has a history of drug and alcohol addiction, and prosecutors say she was recently caught with drugs in jail. Some of Corey Ryan's family members believe she was under the influence when she hit him.
Corey's sister told her "I'll believe that you're sorry when you tell the truth and you can admit it to everybody and yourself."
Both the family of Danielle Castrignano and of Corey Ryan are hoping that Danielle will get the addiction help she needs while in prison and that she'll do it in honor of Corey.
"What they would like to see is that this does change her life and that she changes the path that she's taken up to the point of this accident and even after this accident," said Assistant District Attorney Alexis Falvello.
Danielle Castrigano is already serving time through June for a probation violation. When that sentence is finished, her sentence for the hit-and-run will begin.